It is hard to catch Michael Crow off-guard, but the Arizona State University president was blindsided as much as anyone. For several days, Steve Patterson told him he had no interest in the University of Texas athletic director’s job.

Just like that, ASU lost an athletic director who bolted for a program that operates with the largest athletic budget in the country.

“I’m disappointed,” Crow said Tuesday.

In Patterson, Crow thought he had an administrator who shared his vision for college sports, one that shoots for high performance and fiscal restraint.

That’s not the Longhorns, whose football coach makes $5.3 million, more than twice what the Sun Devils pay Todd Graham.

They pay their athletic directors handsomely, too.

A lot of us would run for the money. No reason to cast Patterson as some Benedict Arnold. But the juxtaposition of where he was and where he is heading delivers a strong reminder of the vision Crow sees for ASU athletics.

It is one that doesn’t always sit well with fans.

“I am looking for people committed to the model that we’re trying to advance,” Crow said. “Obviously, there are other models. There are models of $6 million football coaches. Maybe that’ll soon be $10 million. For me, I don’t think that’s the way for college sports to go, but at the same time, I’ve got to keep the team on track and have to keep the positions filled in a very, very rough-and- tumble market.

“If the only path to athletic success is the same path as professional teams — more and more money, like the Yankees model — then where does that leave us in college sports?”

Still, it is tough for fans who feel as though ASU is the Triple-A home for college football’s big leagues. Consider the paths of some recent athletic directors:

“Are we a stepping-stone?” Crow asked. “No. We’re a fantastic university doing fantastic things. People in college sports, in my view, need to be more committed to the institution than they are committed only to the dollar.”

Crow is adamant that success can still be found while showing fiscal responsibility.

I’ll give him this:

The Sun Devils are in a better place than they have been in a long time.

The football program, the lifeline of an athletic department, is nationally ranked and has a legitimate shot to battle for the Pac-12 title.

The men’s basketball program has taken a step forward thanks in large part to a nationally respected player named Jahii Carson.

Crow thinks it can stay that way without entering Nick Saban territory.

Saban is Alabama’s coach, the highest paid in the country, at $5.5 million.

Patterson’s decision to change jobs after less than 2 1/2 years at Arizona State puts a spotlight on how differently ASU and Texas operate.

The Longhorns sported athletic revenue in 2011-12 that was No. 1 in the country at $163 million. The Sun Devils were 45th at $59 million.

Patterson recently received a base-salary raise to $450,000 from ASU. Texas is reportedly going to pay him $1.4 million.

Texas has its own television contract with ESPN. ASU will eventually benefit from the Pac-12’s media deal, but right now, the biggest storyline remains how viewership is limited because of the Pac-12 Networks’ standoff with DirecTV.

ASU is often called a sleeping giant, but the truth is, large athletic budgets are mostly reserved for universities in the South, in cities where colleges are kings and professional teams are nowhere to be found.

Oregon, at No. 16, is the only university west of Texas that has an athletic budget ranked in the Top 20, and that is significantly helped by a certain booster — Phil Knight, co-founder of Nike Inc. — with deep pockets and nice running shoes.

ASU, meanwhile, is ready to move forward.

A search firm hired to find a new athletic director already is “engaged and working,” Crow said, and the plans for renovating Sun Devil Stadium are still moving forward.

Despite the departure of Patterson, Crow sounded confident, even defiant.

He believes in his vision.

And he won’t let money cloud it.

Reach Boivin at paola .boivin@arizonarepublic .com and follow her on Twitter at Twitter.com/ PaolaBoivin. Listen to her on “Big Guy on Sports” streaming live on sports360 az.com with Brad Cesmat every Monday at 10:30 a.m.

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